Setting Of A Doll's House Essay

The play A Doll’s House revolves around Nora Helmer, a frivolous, childlike woman who finds her sense of self and comes into her own towards the end of the play. She is a woman that is almost out of place in the time as she is outspoken and is not afraid to stray from the role dictated for women in that era. Ibsen portrays her as much more than your average woman and the playwright works hard to portray her along with the other characters as believable and dynamic. In a play, almost every seemingly meaningless detail bears some significance. It is through these trivial details that the playwrights add a sense of realism to the characters and the setting. From the way that a character iterates a word to the way that they walk across the stage, …show more content…
In this way Ibsen has created a plain onto which everyone must enter and exit. This fact alone shows the significance of the entrances and exits as everything takes place in this one area. The first significant entrance is Kristine’s. Her’s is not a literal entrance through a door but rather an entrance into the life of Nora whom she went to school with. Kristine enters very subtly into the Helmer household but she ends up becoming a very important influence in the play. Nora not only tells her about the illegal loan that she took out to take Torvald to Italy for medical treatment but also Kristine takes over the position of the man that Nora worked with to obtain the loan. By merely allowing Kristine to re-enter her life Nora has unknowingly put herself in a precarious position which will be discussed further along in the essay. Shortly thereafter, a man named Krogstad enters the Helmer household to speak with Torvald. His entrance fills Nora with anxiety and a feeling of unease. It is revealed that he is the source of Nora’s loan. He attempts to blackmail Nora into securing his job after Torvald tells him that he will be let go. Krogstad’s entrance may not be dramatic however it certainly adds drama to the play through his threats of shaming the family. Here we can see two entrances that while not very dramatic to begin with, cast a net of influence upon Nora who finds herself in a predicament at the …show more content…
Rank. He is a kind man whom Nora was going to look to for assistance with her sticky situation. Moments before she could ask for his help, Dr. Rank professes his love for Nora. Completely caught off guard and flustered she decides that she will not look to him for aid as it would not be right to ask a man who is in love with her to remedy her marriage. Coming full circle we again see Krogstad and Kristine playing influential roles. It is revealed the Kristine and Krogstad were once in love which means that she is not entering but rather re-entering his life. Kristine’s entrance into Krogstad’s life however has both a positive and a negative influence on the play in this moment as she has lifted his spirit to the point where he will willingly recall his blackmail letter but she tells him not to. It is her belief that Nora and Torvald should work out their issues after Torvald finds out bout the loan. In this way she is influencing Nora’s life in a manner quite opposite to what Nora would expect based on their previous encounters. So here we can see again that Kristine’s entrance into Nora’s life has come with serious repercussions for what she believes to be the good but Nora would think to be quite